Cold
by unexpectedchibi
Summary: Life can be really difficult sometimes, but there s always someone who can brighten your day.


I wrote this for crystallightbutterfly on Tumblr, I really hope you like it!

more notes at the end c:

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><p>I don´t own Shingeki no kyojin or its characters<p>

There was only one thing she needed: peace.

Just a day in which everyone just shut their mouth and leave her alone for a while.

Maybe all of that was happening because life always have to find a way to mess up with her and become everything just worse than before.

If it was just another day she would have just stood up and go after the responsible of all of that shit.

But this wasn´t just another day…

The second her brain started to ignore the laughs and jokes about her current state she began to walk out of the cafeteria hoping to find a place to hide as soon as possible.

"Annie!"- Mina was going after her the whole time so she caught up her friend at the restroom after a minute-"don´t worry, I´ll help you…A-are you crying? I´m sure anyone else noticed what happened, besides…"

"I don´t mind it"- she harshly replied while trying to clean up her face at one of the sinks.

"Then, what is it? why did you reacted that way?"

Mina tried to help her washing the dirt on her uniform.

"Guess I will have to lend you the coat I left on my locker yesterday."

The blond just remained silent. She just couldn´t find the words to express her feelings at that moment.

They overheard someone outside the restroom.

"Reiner! There you are!"-It was Bertholt who probably came along with Mina but obviously remained out of the room.

"What the hell has happened?"

"Well, apparently some older guys in the cafeteria were doing disturbs and they ended up throwing food on Annie."

"Haha poor guys! they surely had a hard time when she beat their sorry asses for…"

"That´s the problem"-Bertholt interrupted him

"Uh?"

"She didn´t do anything about it and just came here before talking to anyone…"

Annie found herself giving Mina a sad smile after hearing their classmates.

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><p>After a short chat with her friends they understood the space she needed and she convinced them to leave her go home alone after classes.<p>

There were so many factors that made that day one of the worst. But surely the large amount of information their science teacher was trying to explain to the entire class in a too cheery way was not helping Annie´s mood.

The constant movement of her foot was making more than clear the necessity to be out of the classroom. Because maybe that would calm all the stress she has been suffering from the instant she woke up, right?

Some seconds later the bell rang and she let out a long sigh. Finally.

"Well, we are done for today folks! Have a good time on your vacations!" sang Miss Hange.

She started to pack her notebook and was more than ready to leave.

"Leonhardt, we have to talk" Mikasa was standing behind her and the demanding voice was something Annie absolutely did not want to hear the moment.

"What."

The taller girl handed Annie a paper and a pen- "You haven´t put what you want for the gift exchange".

The blond remembered that she forgot to put something on the list for the Secret Santa activity and was coursing the fact that she actually got involved on all of this.

"I didn´t know you were in charge of the activity. I don´t have time for this and I believe it´s kind of late for anyone to get me something if they haven´t already."

"Listen, I don´t want to lose more time either so it would be helpful if you just put something on the wishlist."

"Ok" she wrote down something as said- "Merry Christmas, Mikasa" Annie gave back the paper to the raven haired and started to walk away.

Mikasa nodded and decided to take a look at the list and stopped at the girl´s name.

"_Whatever"_

"Hey!-" just when she heard the Asian complain about her _"wish"_ they heard a loud noise coming from the hallway.

"God damn it Jean! Watch where you are going!"

"What?! This is your fault and you know it! Get away already, idiot!"

There was a huge mess on the hallway. Apparently they dumped into each other and one of them was holding a huge amount of books –They ended up lying on the floor and there was probably someone else under them. Some students stopped to see how Eren and Kirchtein were doing the ridiculous.

Mikasa run there to help Eren pick up the books and make sure her childhood friend wouldn´t get into more trouble.

Annie took the opportunity to take distance from them even more and so she was able to escape from the Ackerman´s lecture.

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><p>Just after she accomplished her goal to be far away from school Annie received a text from her dad.<p>

"I hope you come home before six. Your uncle and aunt are coming from Germany and will be having dinner with us. You better come fixed and ready to receive them. Take care"

Perfect. A dinner with relatives she barely knows. It wasn´t even Christmas Eve and she wondered why they had to come a week earlier.

It´s not like it hadn´t been terrible already. Annie made her way to the nearest park. And checked the time on her watch.

Five o´clock.

She stopped her way just to admire the sky and some birds that were traveling freely in the air. The snow that covered practically all the place and she was very glad that there was barely anyone. Maybe she could find the silence she was looking for.

But just before she decided to continue her walk some of the snow that was amounted on a branch near her fell from it and covered Annie´s hair.

And so as any human being having a terrible day she wanted to scream.

First she woke up late and had to run to school, she had to deal with her father´s complain on how she should be more responsible and others, she wanted to borrow a book from the library but it was already taken, some morons threw food on her, there was a "cool" family reunion at her house, and now her hair was all covered in snow.

Her usual hairstyle needed to be undone so her blond locks could dry easier.

In a quick action she sat on the nearest bench she found and took a deep breath.

She was so focused on getting all herself together that she didn´t notice the one who was sitting next to her.

"A-Annie?"

She recognized the voice and was quite surprised to find him there.

"What are you doing here, Armin?"

The boy closed the book he was reading and turned to her.

"Well, I just came here to read for a while"-he paused when he noticed how the girl have turned to look down. Her hair covered her face since she wasn´t wearing her signature bun-"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I´m having the time of my life"-the sarcasm came out of her mouth instantly. He was just being a nice person asking an inoffensive question and she felt bad for being rude almost subconsciously.

"Guess we are two now"

"Really? "- The fact of not being the only one suffering cached her attention.

"The last bad thing that happened today was losing one of my contact lenses, that´s why I am wearing these now" Armin made a gesture to accommodate his glasses-"I´m not very used to them thought."

Instead of simply end the conversation there Annie found herself actually interested on what was her companion relating "How did it happened?"

"Eren had to borrow several books from the library and was carrying all of them at once. He needed them to complete a certain essay he forgot to do. I also took some interesting ones to read at home. He was so focused imagining all of the ways he could start his work that he didn´t see Jean running in the opposite direction. When I realized it was too late and we all three were lying on the ground and I was under several texts."

"As I can see you got hurt too" she pointed the bandage he had attached to his left cheek

"Yeah, it´s actually nothing."

_So it was you who was in the mess Jeager and Kirchtein caused- _thought Annie "You know, at least you didn´t have to deal with food on you uniform"

"Wow, that´s why you are not wearing the school´s jacket"

"The next time I see the bastards who caused this I´m so taking charge of them"

Armin couldn´t help but let a small giggle out "you haven´t yet?"

"Nah" she simply replied.

Of course he would be surprised to hear how the cold and strong Annie Leonhart didn´t punch those guys on the face or something.

Cold.

She internally wanted to actually be like that, cold, just like the small lake that was frozen because of the weather.

Without these confusing and troublesome emotions.

Armin decided to break the silence "I really like to come here for a read after school. It´s very peaceful and the atmosphere it´s so relaxing"

Gazing at the book he was holding she realized that he was reading the novel she was looking for hours before at the library.

"In which chapter are you in?"

"Now I am on the seventh…wait, have you read it too?"

Amused for the sudden expectation on the boy's eyes she couldn't help but to look away to avoid eye contact "It´s…one of my favorites, I don´t want spoilers thought. I haven´t read the last book"

Armin blushed a little at the excitement of finding someone else who liked the book trilogy "Hahaha of course not!"

Talking about fictional stories wasn´t certainly how Annie expected to spend her afternoon, but as much as she wouldn't admit, she liked it.

A sneeze coming from the girl brought them back to reality.

"Bless you" Armin looked concerned about her.

"Yeah, it´s probably because of the fallen snow on my hair before"

"I see, maybe it´s a good idea to go home" he took his phone and looked at the time "Oh damn!, it´s already late" he paused to turn to her and then got up from the bench as she did the same "you know, it´s time to go to Connie´s house for the gift exchange, if you want we can go together"

Maybe it was just the cold she was catching but it seemed like he was embarrassed to ask her to go with him. "Actually, I won´t be going"

"What? But... what about the person you have to give the present to?"

"Already asked Mina to give it to Braus."

"Why?"

"The chocolate cupcake that girl asked for wasn´t cheap and it would be kind of mean to leave her without..."

"Eh, no, why are you not going?"

"Oh, I have a familiar reunion at seven" she sighed once again.

"You are not going…"Armin stood looking for something in his backpack. It was a tiny box with a ribbon on it "I wasn´t sure of what you wanted…but I just want you to know that I thought about you when I bought this and…"

"What?" she felt how her face began to feel hot after those words.

Realizing of what he had just said the nervousness seized him "Uhm, w-what I am trying to say is…"he handed her the present "Here is my Secret Santa gift, hope you like it!"

Astonished she received the small box and opened it slowly. A silver bracelet with some hearth shaped crystal pendants was revealed. She took it in her hands and was amazed by its beauty "Is… is this really for me?"

"I am not an expert on what girls like but…"

"I love it" she gave him a sincere smile "Thank you, so much"

The boy felt happiness at the sight of Annie smiling to him and a special glow appeared in his eyes "I´m really glad"

Their gazes locked for a while "You should be going, it's getting dark" commented the blond girl.

"Yeah…" he walked some steps away before turning back to her "Annie"

"Yes?"

"I´m glad I got to spend the afternoon with someone as nice as you. Thanks"

It took a while to assimilate what she just heard.

A nice person…

And then she realized that her day wasn´t as bad as she thought.

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><p>My very first fanfiction piece, I´m sorry if there´s something confusing on this (I actually speak spanish) -3-<p>

Hope you had a lovely holiday :D


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